DA announces decision to back ANC motion to remove De Lille

Wednesday the 31st of August looks to be the day that the DA will finally get its wish and remove Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille from office. We have the latest decision taken by the DA's Federal Executive.

On Wednesday morning, the Federal Executive of the Democratic Alliance (DA) “authorised” the DA caucus in the City of Cape Town to lodge a motion of no confidence in Patricia De Lille. The thing is, the ANC had already tabled one at the end of last year, that is due for debate later on Wednesday too.

DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela has there said that the caucus will back the ANC motion.

While Patricia De Lille has been suspended from all party activities for months, she was recently forced to hand over control of handling the city’s water crisis. She was also formally charged by the party at the start of January, a decision that De Lille said she would fight legally.

Madikizela said the DA had found that De Lille had “demonstrated behaviour and actions which constituted gross misconduct, gross dereliction of duty, and conduct that amounted to deceiving Council.”

De Lille was also slated for things like “poor management”, “consistent loss of revenue” and “irregular expenditure”.

The Federal Executive also slammed her “failure to manage the water crisis correctly,” as well as accusing her of withholding officials.

“The FedEx has thus authorized the caucus – which has already expressed its lack of confidence in the Mayor by a way of a caucus vote – the right to support the ANC’s motion. While this is an unprecedented move, the ANC correctly in its motion details many, but not all, of the maladministration that the Mayor is responsible for.”

“The FedEx has taken this step on the basis that the caucus, and the Party has too lost faith in her leadership. It is therefore in the best interests of the people of Cape Town and good governance – given the threat that Patricia de Lille poses to both – that we have no choice but to remove her as the Mayor.”

The party was also quick to point out that it had previously called on the ANC to support motions of no confidence against President Zuma due to the damage he has done to South Africa. Madikizela says it is for similar reasons that the DA will vote to remove De Lille on Wednesday.

UPDATE: ANC reversal

The ANC in Cape Town then went on to throw a spanner in the works as it announced on Wednesday morning that it has withdrawn its motion of no confidence against De Lille. The party says it will not allow the DA to “abuse the water crisis to settle political battles”

The ANC also called on national government to put the City of Cape Town and provincial government under administration.

It now remains to be seen whether the DA will table one themselves and when that will be debated, if not today. We will keep you updated as it happens.